General questions on tea "caffeine"......please

Hi,I'm new to more of the traditional tea drinking. I've got the electric kettle form imperial tea court. I have a gaiwan, tea pot, cups, microfiber towels. I've got the basic set up to expriment, and am enjoying it so far. I've been practicing with a mid grade oolong .

My questions are about caffeine. I'm generally very healthy, and active. I would not say my blood pressure is a problem, but I monitor it. I've always been told watch out for caffeine mostly referring to coffee, but never really had the tea conversation.

I've done acupuncture for years. I actually have a appt very soon with him to discuss this very topic. I also plan to take in my oolong to see how I do with a muscle test.

I'm not looking for medical advice. Just some general giudelines. How does green oolong tea compare to coffee in regards to caffeine ? With using my gaiwan would green oolong be the least amount of caffeine ? Would standard green tea have less health benefits ? I really like the oolong health benefits, and would rather not loose that.

Any quality decaf oolong on the market that can be used with a gaiwan ?

Any suggestions, links to educate me more on this subject, etc would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully my acupuncture doctor will be able to spell it all out for me, but thought this looked like a great source to ask my questions.

Maybe some of you have wondered the same thing, and already figured it out. Help point me in the right direction. Maybe caffeine levels in green oolong are so low I should not even worry about it.

I really just enjoy the brewing process, taste, moment, etc. Would like to do it with as little caffeine as possible.

This is a commonly asked question, but I'm not sure there's a clear-cut answer. If you do some searching, on this forum or online, you may find some numbers.

I think brewing parameters have ultimately more to do with the amount of caffeine in tea than the type of tea -- how much tea leaf you use, how much water, how long the tea is infused, how hot the water is, etc. Green tea and oolongs on the greener side of the spectrum tend to be brewed differently; both can have quite a bit of caffeine.

If I needed to reduce my caffeine consumption, I would tend to change the quantity of tea I drink, or the strength, before changing the type of tea. Get a smaller gaiwan, or use less leaf.

I would not worry so much about one tea or another having more health benefits.

Listen to your body. Start a journal recording what you eat and drink and how you feel if you need to. If you start noticing a pattern on days you drink oolong, and if it isn't positive, then maybe cut it out.

Moderation in all things.

Last edited by Warden Andy on Oct 12th, '11, 14:08, edited 1 time in total.

Tea has more caffiene gram for gram than coffee...but because you´re not grinding up your tea leaves before you brew it doesn´t extract as quickly and usually you use a lower mass of tea leaves than coffee beans to brew with too.

But you´ll also likely extract virtually all of the caffiene during a full gongfu session...it´s certainly enough to disrupt a sensitive persons sleep if they drink too late.

I wouldn´t worry about it, in coffee either for that matter. Just be concious of your tolerance and don´t drink too close to bed time.

I'm not convinced caffeine content, or caffeine dose, is a major factor in the health benefits. Listen to your body, sometimes you need a red tea binge for a few days, sometimes you need a little green tea now and again.

If you are drinking tea for health benefits oolong might not be the best choice, although it is still very healthy, as is all tea.

If you want a nice dose of antioxidants the greener end of the spectrum is where you want to go. Also, green teas have higher concentrations of L-Theanine, an amino acid that is a caffiene antagonist that cuts the jittery effects of caffeine and promotes relaxation. Matcha is probably the king health wise.

I find Oolong to have the most profound effect on me caffeine-wise, and it is definetly not masked or mellowed out with a nice relaxing theanine buzz. Then again, I brew oolong gongfu style with a lot of leaf, so I have to be careful with how much I drink. In the beginning of the steeping cycle I can usually only tolerate 1 or 2 4 oz. cups in a sitting. In the later steepings the caffeine levels drop and I can drink 4 or 5 cups back to back and have no problem with it.

As was said, listen to your body. If you feel nauseated, jittery or wound up you probably need to tone it down a bit.